Star Wars – The Environmentalists Version

“I don’t know if you know this, but the original draft of the movie star wars was not written by Lucas, the original draft was written by environmentalists. And it’s a little bit different”

Those were the first words I ever heard Derrick Jensen speak, and my world view has never been the same since. The year was 2006 and I had just moved to New York City to work for Democracy Now!. I was taping the Community Solutions conference, a peak oil convention held at Cooper Union. Unlike the other speakers, Derrick did not talk about about solar panels or wind turbines. He spoke of our culture’s systematic destruction of the planet and of the failure of the environmental movement. After hearing his talk, I immediately sought out his books and the first seeds of END:CIV were planted.

The “Star Wars” piece is one of Derrick’s best analogies, one that delivers a precise critique of mainstream environmental groups.